UNSPOILED CYPRUS
tunity to study the life about me. In one
corner, squatting on soft rugs, a dignified
group discussed the Koran. Creeping into
the field of my camera came a blind man,
who sat swaying back and forth, repeating
his favorite chapters of the Koran.
A SLICE OF CYPRUS LIFE IN THE SHADOWS
OF A MOSQUE
In by the back door crept an old, bent
man, his face mapped by many an Odys
sey. He wore a faded tarboosh wrapped
with a strip of spotless white cloth figured
with blue. A ragged jacket only partly
confined a tattered shirt. His black, baggy
trousers seemed to have been made of
those cast-off umbrella covers with which
oriental bootblacks give a final ingratiating
polish to one's shoes.
Beside me was the handsome mullah, a
prince of his faith, comparing notes on
Damascus, Jerusalem, and Samarkand or
trying to make up by courteous gesture
for any adequately common tongue. His
raven robe and snowy turban were im
maculate. Yet the ragged old man showed
no embarrassment.
He advanced to his favorite seat on the
soft carpet, blindly took down from its
familiar shelf a time-browned book more
tattered than his dress, found his place by
means of a thumb-worn marker, and
turned his almost sightless eyes to the
scripture he had come to read.
Others came from the fountain where
they had washed, ready for prayer.
It
was high noon, but the mullah, under
standing my work, made no sign of im
patience. As I stepped past the fine old
portal, into my shoes and out into the
heat and noise of the bazaar, the muezzin,
overhead, intoned the call to prayer. Here,
too, was a something still unspoiled.
Aphrodite's isle, conquered by Thoth
mes and Cambyses; given by the love
sick Antony to Cleopatra; preached to
by Paul and Barnabas; seized by the Lion
hearted to avenge an insult and sold
within the year; fled to by Crusader refu
gees when, at Acre, all was lost; brought
to its zenith by the Lusignans; conquered
by the Turks; now occupied by the British
for half a century-Cyprus awaits the
visitor in its sheltered nook of the spark
ling sea, a refuge for those who turn
from their own crusades to pause in a
brief recessional.
As one leaves the tumult and the shout
ing of the bazaar to seek the quiet of the
cool and restful mosque, so may one go
to Cyprus, still unspoiled for those who
savor life.
THE CARAVELS OF COLUMBUS WITH THIS NUMBER OF
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
THE third of a series of five mural paintings recently completed by the
noted American artist, Mr. N. C. Wyeth, for the National Geographic
Society Buildings in Washington is reproduced as a color supplement
with this number of the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE. The first
of the series, "The Discoverer," appeared as a supplement with the March
number, and the second, depicting Commander Byrd at the North Pole,
appeared in May.
The three paintings constitute the artist's conception of the Romance
of Discovery by Land, Air, and Sea. The two remaining subjects-highly
decorative Maps of the Hemispheres, in the style of 15th century hand
illuminated charts, with the routes of famous discoverers shown picto
rially-will be issued as color supplements, size 18% x 19 inches, within the
next few months.
A limited edition of "The Discoverer," at $1.50, and of "Commander
Byrd at the North Pole," and "The Caravels of Columbus" at $1.00 for each
print, on special art paper, will be mailed, unfolded, to members who desire
copies for framing.